Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice
by NastyNick
Summary: AU. What if Regulus Black didn’t die and Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban earlier? Harry escapes from the cruel Dursleys and lives a life on the run with the Blacks, only to be found eventually in a Qudditch match. Multiple SHIPS. FULL SUMMARY INSIDE
1. Prologue

**Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Summary**: AU. What if Regulus Black didn't die and Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban earlier? Harry escapes from the cruel Dursleys and lives a life on the run with the Blacks, only to be found eventually in a Qudditch match. Featuring Harry with metamorphagus abilities and talents in the mind arts. Multiple SHIPS.

**Author's Note**: Hey all, wrote this past midnight so there might be some errors. Anyway, Ron won't play much of a role in this story, as I've never really liked him and Harry will play Chaser like his dad. Enjoy

-o-o-o-o-

**Chapter 1 – Prologue**

_In the Headmaster's Office at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…_

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, had never felt so old before in his entire life, and that was saying something considering his ancient age. With a sigh, he laid the copy of Daily Prophet he was reading moments ago on his desk and closed his eyes, thinking about the greatest mistake he had just committed.

The headlines on the Daily Prophet read "The-Boy-Who-Lived Kidnapped!" in bold titles, and an account of how a tall and mysterious-looking man kidnapped Harry Potter, who was then only four-years-old, also known as the saviour of the Wizarding World. Even after a week had elapsed, the wizarding world still had not gotten over the kidnap, and there had been daily false alarms and fake information regarding Harry. In fact, there was a 10,000-galleon reward to anyone who could provide true information regarding the location of Harry.

It did not help matters that only a few days had passed before a breakout happened at the Azkaban Prison, something that has never ever happened in the history of magic ever since it had been built. Matters only exacerbated when the escaped convict was none other than Sirius Black, who was known for his involvement in the deaths of the Potters.

Albus Dumbledore looked sadly around the beloved office he had resided in for many years, wondering what could be done to rectify his grievous mistake. A mistake that might have resulted in the annihilation of the wizarding world.

He heaved another sigh as he proceeded to read the reports given by members of the Order of Phoenix, a secret organization he led when Voldemort, a Dark Wizard, began his reign of terror.

Reports had shown that on that fateful night of Harry's kidnap, the protection wards placed on 4 Privet Drive did not illustrate any signs of discrepancies. Alarms set to ring should a Dark Wizard, or any wizard bearing ill intentions towards the house or its inhabitants, set foot in the vicinity also failed to work. All the wards had been checked again after the kidnap had occurred, and to everyone's surprise, everything was working fine.

The latter was more puzzling to Dumbledore as he thought of the reasons why a powerful charm performed by none other than the top Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries did not activate when the man entered the area. After all, what other purpose does the man have to kidnap Harry? Moreover, Dumbledore knew something everyone else except the Inner Circle of the Order did not, which had increased his puzzlement over the malfunctioning of the alarms.

_Oh well, this is only going to be another one of the many questions that have remained unsolved_, Dumbledore thought as he resigned to be kept in the dark about the problem with the wards. Order members had only been notified of a problem at Harry's residence when the use of a portkey was registered by detection wards. Further attempts at finding out where the portkey brought the both of them to were useless when they realised their tracking charms had been detected and eliminated too.

Staring out of the windows that showed the beautiful grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dumbledore wondered where in the world Harry was and hoped that wherever he was, someone would be taking care of him, and not subjecting him to various tortures.

After all, reports on his desk had shown that the detection wards around 4 Privet Drive, the residence of Harry Potter, had detected a startling fact about the kidnapper – something that told everyone much about his identity.

The kidnapper bore a Dark Mark.

-o-o-o-o-

_Elsewhere in Britain…_

"I swear to God that I will never attempt such a risky operation ever, not even for a life debt!" a darkly-clothed man muttered as he held out his wand to perform the few healing charms he knew on a dishevelled man, who looked to be on the brink of exhaustion.

"Oh little brother of mine, you know you would do anything for me," the pale-looking man said in a raspy voice of his as he started coughing again.

"Hmmm, I wonder what will happen to you if I did not bother to find you at our usual meeting place after your little escapade from Azkaban, Sirius-boy," the other man huffed and replied. "You won't be so cocky when you're looking at Death in the face."

Sirius only sighed in content. He was finally liberated from that miserable prison they kept him in. God knows how much he had to endure from the ghastly creatures that guarded Azkaban, and he often wondered how he managed to survive for three whole years in there.

As always, he found the answer when he looked at the peaceful-looking boy across him, sleeping on the couch. _Yes, it was worth it_, he thought. _Everything was worth saving Harry, James only son, from that poor excuse of a home he lived in_. He was enraged when his younger brother, Regulus, told him about the poor conditions Harry had lived in. Deep down, he was extremely grateful that Regulus had been keeping tabs on Harry, for who knows what those abhorrent muggles will further do to Harry? As Sirius was musing about Harry, Regulus thought of the past once again, a past which had been unkind to him.

Regulus Black was the youngest son of Orion Black and he used to be a Death Eater. When he had first joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, he bore the mindset that they would simply do muggle-baiting among other acts that would prove the pureblood supremacy. What he did not know was that Voldemort had more ambitious plans, plans which require more than playing with muggles, plans… which involved killing, among other atrocities. After struggling with the company of Death Eaters, he realised he did not have the heart to commit the various heinous crimes required to be part of Voldemort's group, and he tried to leave. Of course, nobody could simply leave when he felt like it after joining, and moments after he had deserted Voldemort, he started getting hunted by Death Eaters. It was only the timely intervention by his elder brother, Sirius Black, along with his amazing Transfiguration skills and intelligence that had prevented his death.

Flashback

**_Hey bro, how was the experience of being a Death Eater?_**

_Regulus' eyes widened in surprise as he recognized his brother's voice in his mind, and only responded after a while._

_Sirius, where are you?_

**_Trying to get you out of trouble as usual. Don't worry, I got everything under control. Pretend nothing happened and continue flying towards me. You can feel where I am, right?_**

_Ya… but Sirius, what are you doing here? You could be killed!_

**_As I've said, nothing to worry about. We might have our differences in our past, but I'm not going to watch my bro die to a bunch of death munchers._**

_Regulus could almost see the smirk on Sirius' face as he said that. He switched off the connection with his brother as he concentrated on flying on his broom, swerving around trees to avoid the Death Eaters behind him as much as possible._

_A blue beam shot past him and blasted the tree ahead into oblivion. Regulus shuddered to think what would have happened had the beam hit him instead. He looked ahead to find his brother, and to his relief, he had finally found the place. It was heavily concealed by trees, and it would be almost impossible to fly through it. He swerved his broom to his left and he temporarily disappeared from the Death Eater's view. Regulus spotted the telltale figure of his brother and disembarked from his broom. _

_He quickly covered the distance between them and pulled Sirius into a hug. "I've missed you bro," he said, as tears threatened to spill._

"_I've missed you too," his brother said quietly before pulling out of the embrace. "Quick, we don't have time to waste." _

_Sirius seemed to grab hold of thin air and pulled hard, revealing a man wearing black robes with a white mask covering his face. The usual garb of a Death Eater. Regulus then recognized the item Sirius held in his hands to be an Invisibility Cloak, and saw that the man looked exactly like him!_

_With a few transfiguration spells, that man looked the same as Regulus in his current state. They exchanged clothing before Sirius cast the Imperio curse on the Death Eater, willing him to do what was wanted._

_After a few moments, Sirius went to where Regulus was and hid both of them with the Invisibility Cloak. _

"_Time to watch the show," he muttered under his breath as the Death Eaters chasing him moments ago came into view._

"_There he is!" "Capture him!" "Hurry!"_

_The Death Eater controlled by Sirius appeared to be stuck in a bush and was struggling to get out of it. Before long, he was Stunned by his fellow Death Eaters and the torture began._

"_How do you like this?" the Death Eater holding the Cruciatus curse on the supposed 'Regulus Black' cackled. "You should have never betrayed our Lord, and now you shall pay for it!"_

_After what seemed like eternity, the Death Eaters stopped their torture and finished 'Regulus' with a Reducto curse, blasting the body into smithereens. They congratulated themselves for a job well done and flew back. _

_While the Death Eaters were torturing 'Regulus', the real Regulus Black asked his brother where the transfigured Death Eater had come from. His brother then explained that he had captured him trying to rape a muggle in the outskirts of a town while on duty as an Auror. When he sensed Regulus, he had decided to bring the Death Eater along, not knowing how useful he would prove later on._

End of Flashback

"Alright, that's all I can do with the skills I have," Regulus said, as he brought himself back to the present. "I'll bring you to see some other less reputable Healers who do not question the identity of their patients when we reach Illionaz tomorrow." Illionaz was a magical capital located on an island not far away from Britain.

"Yeh, you'd better make sure those friends you know can bring us safely there." Sirius said before breaking into a grin. _Tomorrow, my brother, my godson and I will be safely living on a magical island with nobody knowing where we are!_

Thoughts of what he could be doing fleeted across his mind, all of which included Harry. He really wanted to be the perfect godfather, to have fun with Harry and treat him as a friend, but he also realised the responsibility he had to James Potter, his best friend, to raise his son to become a respectable wizard, not an arrogant and prejudiced one. The last thought on his mind as he finally succumbed to sleep was him teaching Harry the basics of pranking, both of them enjoying each other's company.

Regulus stayed with Sirius until sleep finally took over his brother. He checked to make sure that the detection and protection wards were not malfunctioning and double-checked all the locks in the house to make sure everything was safely-locked. After going through three years of research on entering warded premises without detection, he considered himself a professional in it. After all, didn't he break through the many complicated wards to rescue Harry _without_ detection? He would even bet that some of the wards were cast by Albus Dumbledore himself.

He started scanning the house for any tracking charms. He had removed all the charms attached to Harry the moment they left the vicinity of Privet Drive before using another portkey to bring them here, but still, it was always good to be on your toes. He remembered Sirius telling him of a Muggle called Murphy saying that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. _Well, it better not be in this case_, he thought after making the last scan on the house. Satisfied that nothing appeared to be breached, he finally sat down on the couch and drifted away to a peaceful sleep.

-o-o-o-o-

_Close to 9 years later on Illionaz island, on a warm and sunny June morning…_

"Hey kiddo, you better come down here in 1 minute or I will personally go up and kick your ass down," Sirius shouted from the living room, as he browse through the Daily Prophet in one hand while eating his breakfast with the other.

Regulus walked into the room and sat down on the chair before chuckling. "You know that little runt will never get down in a minute. He's most probably trying out a new hairstyle with that magic gel you bought him yesterday."

After nine years of relaxation and fun on the magical island, Regulus had become quite a charmer. With his well-toned muscles and nice tan, coupled with his 5'6 tall body, he had been a popular figure among girls along the beaches. Sirius, on the other hand, as he did not get the chance to go out of the house much due to security reasons, had a pale countenance, but as he had been constantly training at home, he was also muscular and tall. In fact, Sirius was a few inches taller than Regulus.

"Ha, I don't even know if that gel will work on that messy hair of his," Sirius snorted as he continued reading the papers. "Doubt he will need it when he has finally mastered how to morph his hair properly."

Regulus only smiled at that comment as he realised the subtle jealousy beneath Sirius' tone. Harry and Regulus were both Metamorphagus, which means they have the ability to morph their bodies and take on another look. Regulus only discovered that Harry had the metamorphagus talent in him two summers ago when he morphed his hair back to his old style after a disastrous haircut. Since then, his control over hair still had not reach a safe level for use, so they had been practicing on other parts of his body, especially his face. They had managed to use Harry's metamorphagus ability to mask his scar temporarily, but every now and then, when Harry started to lose focus, the scar would return to its surface.

"Yes! I've finally gotten my hair into a respectable state!" shouted an excited Harry as he rushed down the stairs. He stood proudly in front of both of the Black brothers as he awaited the astonishment and wonderment their tones would carry. Instead, Sirius' eyes became as large as saucers and he spluttered, "You call that respectable? It's disgusting!" Harry's hair was gelled into becoming as spiky as a Hogrikey, a magical creature bearing great resemblance to the muggle animal hedgehog.

"No, no, that won't do." As he said that, Sirius stood up and grabbed Harry by the shoulder before manoeuvring him into a kitchen to wash away the gel. "Ahhhhh, no, damn it, doesn't it look cool?" Harry shouted as he was dragged into the kitchen.

_**Regulus, why didn't you help me say a few nice words just now?**_

Regulus heard Harry's mental communication and smiled in amusement.

_Well, I for one don't want to get into any trouble with Sirius. Anyway, you know how stubborn he can be when he made up his mind._

_**Oh well, that's true.**_

Harry then spent the next ten minutes arguing with Sirius while Sirius tried to get his hair back to the 'old state'.

Regulus and Sirius had spent quite a few years teaching Harry the mind arts, such as Legilimency and Occlumency. Harry started to learn them at the age of nine and had mastered Occlumency in three years. However, he was only proficient enough in Legilimency to send messages in short distances. Together, they had home-schooled Harry in Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration, and taught him duelling along with the many duelling spells. Potions was sort of included in their daily pranking lessons, so it was not taught specifically.

Through the sketchy characters Regulus knew, they had managed to purchase a wand with no tracking devices on it for Harry, thus they could practice magic at home without a care for the Ministry of Magic. It was 10 inches made from ashes with a dragon heartstring core and had cost a bomb, but it was well worth it, and the Blacks were certainly rich enough to afford it. To keep Sirius occupied in their home, Regulus let Sirius do the planning for their lessons with Harry whenever he brought Harry out. Both of them knew how to morph their bodies, so there was lesser risk that they would be recognized.

Harry seemed to have inherited his dad's skills in Transfiguration and his mum's in Charms, breezing through those two lessons with ease. However, Arithmancy proved to be a difficult subject for him. When asked why he had to learn Arithmancy, Sirius explained in a serious (A/N: lol!) tone that the subject was important in the arts of pranking. After all, you had to calculate the correct figures for various spells to come into contact with one another and not become volatile it seemed.

Duelling was an essential topic for they knew that Harry's life ahead would not be easy. Even till then, there were still bounty hunters on the search for Harry, hired to capture him alive, and Dumbledore still had not given up the hope that Harry was still alive somewhere. With so many dangers around, Sirius and Regulus had also charmed a watch to be a portkey for Harry. If Harry should come into danger in the absence of the two wizards, all he had to do was utter the words 'the Prongslet is in danger' and the portkey would activate, bringing him to a safehouse.

"Finally, we're done!" Sirius exclaimed happily as he brought a drenched Harry out of the kitchen.

"See what you've done to my Qudditch outfit? It's all wet!" Harry complained as he looked at his state of dressing.

Regulus was brought out of his musing and laughed. "Harry, Harry, sometimes you forget that we live in a world of magic." With that said, he performed a drying charm on Harry.

Harry was in a one of the Qudditch teams in Illionaz, the youngest Qudditch player around. He was scouted from the Junior Qudditch League he had joined and was offered the place of reserve Chaser in the Draconian Dragons. During one of the games when Harry was brought into play, he had outperformed a few of the chasers and had managed to get into the first team ever since. That day was the finals against the Pyro Phoenix and it would determine whether they would play in the Qudditch World Cup later on

After everything was ready, Harry and Regulus morphed into the look they had taken on for identifying purposes on Illionaz while Sirius changed into Snuffles. With a bit of tweaking, Snuffles no longer looked like before and everyone was safe to go. Regulus took out the portkey given to Harry by the coach of Draconian Dragons as he did not want anyone late for this important match.

Not long later, they entered the Illionaz Qudditch Stadium.

-o-o-o-o-

_During the Qudditch game…_

"… and Chaser Harry McBlack streaked across the pitch with the Quaffle in his arms. He dodged a Bludger sent by Beater Rex Le'ones and hurled the Quaffle straight into the hoops. Keeper Nat Charles stretched his 6'8 body and managed to block the shot!"

_Damn_, Harry thought, as another attempt came to a waste. The score was 340-220 and they were leading by a huge margin. However, Harry knew that the Phoenix's Seeker was much better than theirs, and it was likely for them to get the Snitch. As such, their strategy was to score enough goals to win even if the opposition got the Snitch.

Harry went back into formation and nodded to the other two chasers at his sides. They were going to try the Hawkshead Counterfeit. It was a different variation of the Hawkshead Attacking Formation, something which Harry had invented during one of the practice. A shot from the opposition was blocked by their keeper and he passed the Quaffle to Harry.

Together, the three chasers sped towards the opposite goalpost with Harry slightly ahead of the other two, forming the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. They then started revolving around their broom, with the other two chasers weaving in and out around Harry, something ahead of Harry, at other times, behind him. With this formation, the Beaters of the opposition had a hard time aiming, and most of their attempts missed the chasers.

As they neared the Phoenix's goalpost, they stopped revolving and settled for flying straight at the Keeper. Harry passed the Quaffle to the other Chaser on his right as discreetly as possible and pretended to hold a Quaffle under his arm. When he was close enough to the Keeper, he threw an imaginary Quaffle at the hoops. The Keeper noticed the exchange between the Chasers and did not fall for the trick. Unknown to him, while Harry was distracting him, the Chasers had exchanged possession of the Quaffle and the Chaser whom Harry had passed the Quaffle to once again threw an imaginary Quaffle at the hoops. The Keeper was ready this time, and he threw himself towards the hoop to try to block the shot… only to find that there was nothing. He turned around in panic, and sighed as the Quaffle sailed through the air and entered through the hoop, scored by the final Chaser.

"… and Chaser Nicolas Yore SCORED! The score's 350-220 to the Dragons!" the commenter shouted as the crowds cheered.

The Dragons scored another goal after a few minutes. However, it was then that the crowd went mad cheering as the Phoenix's Seeker streaked down the pitch. The Dragons' Seeker followed in mad pursuit, and Harry stared in horror as the realization that they might lose hit him. Concentrating hard, he flew towards the Phoenix's Chasers who were passing the ball between them and intercepted in mid-air before zooming towards the goal.

_Come on, come on, come on_, Harry chanted to himself as he evaded Bludgers sent in his way. With a final twist of his wrist as he reached the goalpost, he sent the Quaffle curling towards the hoops. The Keeper stretched his long body once again but, this time however, missed the Quaffle by inches.

"Chaser Harry McBlack raises the score to 370-220 to the Dragons as the Phoenix's Seeker catch the Snitch. Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first time in five decades, we're witnessing a tie for the chance to participate in the Qudditch World Cup. As such, we will have… a QUDDITCH PENALTIES!"

The Qudditch Penalties rarely come into play as scores are usually difficult to draw due to the Snitch contribution of 150 points. Each side would then have five attempts at the goal with a Keeper guarding it. After an intense penalty shootout, which led to sudden death as both sides scored the same number of goals the Draconian Dragons finally emerged victorious.

As Harry was cerebrating with his Qudditch mates, one of them commented on his forehead.

"Hey Harry, what's that on your head? That lightning bolt thingy?"

With a practiced grace, Harry took out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead, closing his eyes to concentrate on his metamorphagus ability to conceal the scar which marked him as The-Boy-Who-Lived.

"I guess it must have been some blemish," he lied without blinking.

With that, they continued their party and Regulus joined them too. Unknown to them, a stranger with a pair of omnioculars was zooming into Harry's forehead moments ago with his left hand, while his right was frantically writing on a piece of parchment. After completing what he has written, he rolled it up before taking out a phoenix's feather. Touching the parchment, he uttered the two words before the parchment disappeared along with the feather.

To those who could lip-read, they would have probably saw that the two words were 'Albus Dumbledore'.

-o-o-o-o-

**Author's Note**: Ooh, a cliffy. What will happen next? Harry will definitely meet with Dumbledore. But what about Regulus and Sirius? What will happen to them? Will Harry attend Hogwarts? Lol, stay tune for more…


	2. A New Life

**Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews, **Folk** and **Godric Albion**! I will try to use simpler words in future ;) By the way, a correction to my previous chapter: I misspelt 'metamorphmagus' as 'metamorphagus', and I will be editing it soon. Anyway, finally got this chapter through… enjoy

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

**Chapter 2 – A New Life**

_Once again, in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…_

As Albus Dumbledore was reading some of the school reports, such as which ten-year-old muggleborns had a past record of accidental magic, a burst of flame took his attention from them and what he read made his heart burst with anticipation.

The note read:

_Albus, a boy at Illionaz of age twelve named Harry McBlack has the scar! The same scar Harry Potter has! It appeared for a while before fading away after he had wiped his hanky over it. I'm quite sure of it. He is currently celebrating a Qudditch victory at Illionaz Qudditch Stadium. A dog that looks similar to the one you told us to look out for has been spotted not far away, but it has the colour of brown coating instead of black. Status quo?_

_Charles Roberto_

_The phoenix shall lead in times of darkness._

Immediately, Albus Dumbledore began to reply to Charles to track McBlack's movements. After which, he began contacting the few Aurors inducted in the overseas branch of the Order for assistance. Taking a quill from his table, he muttered _'Portus' _and the quill responded by glowing blue for a few seconds before the glow faded away. With that, he wrote a hasty letter saying that he had gone on 'Harry-Hunting' to his Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall before touching the portkey.

The last sentence on his note was "All might not be too late."

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_At the Auror Academy in Illionaz…_

"Nat, Janet, Horace, Order Operation, prepare for take off in 5 minutes," Tom, the captain of the team, said as he gathered his team and prepared a portkey to Illionaz Qudditch Stadium while briefing them on the situation.

"Is everyone ready? Nat and Janet, you guys will work on the Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards. Horace will accompany me. Let's go!" In unison, they touched the portkey, and a few moments later, they were no longer in the Academy.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_At Illionaz Qudditch Stadium…_

"Something's wrong, Harry," Regulus muttered under his breath as he passed by Harry. "Get ready to run."

_**An Anti-Apparition ward has been placed, and I can feel another ward being set-up soon. Most probably an Anti-Portkey ward.**_

_Are you sure? How do you know?_

_**Argh, trust me on this. If your Legilimency is up to scratch, you should be able to expand out your mind and feel that a barrier of some sort is preventing you from going further.**_

Harry nodded but did not try his Legilimency skills. He trusted Regulus and knew that whatever he said was true. Having been drilled since young about the escape route and actions to take, he stood up straighter and began scanning the stadium for possible dangers. Snuffles growled menacingly and started moving around as he too felt that something was amiss. None of them wanted to use the emergency portkey yet, for fear of giving away their identity.

"Hey Harry, I guess it's time to go. Say bye to your friends," Regulus said in a loud and cheerful voice. Harry took on the cue and bid his friends goodbye. Together, the three of them started to walk in faster pace across the stadium, as the feeling of being watched intensified.

Upon leaving the pitch, Regulus brought Harry to one corner as Sirius transformed back. "Damn, I think our position has been compromised. It's time to use the portkey." Regulus growled. The three of them huddled around Harry as he began to utter the words that would bring them to safety.

"The Prongslet is in danger."

They looked around in astonishment as the portkey failed to activate and, after a moment, started running simultaneously towards the closest exit when they realised what had happened. "Damn, damn, damn… I'd never expected them to be so efficient at setting up wards." Regulus cursed as he ran. Sirius transformed back into a dog and ran along them. Harry easily kept up with their pace, having been training both at home and while training during Qudditch practices, his heart pounding with excitement. After all, this is the first time they had encountered any problems throughout their run from everyone.

When they finally reached the exit, they found two Aurors standing guard. Turning back, they realised two other Aurors had them surrounded with no other escape route available.

"We will await orders from Dumbledore. Hold them in position. No exchange of spells unless provoked." One of them, apparently the captain of the team, told the rest of the Aurors.

Harry, Regulus and Sirius were all surprised that it was Dumbledore who had orchestrated the capture. They had expected a worse situation. Dumbledore might not have made the right decision in placing Harry in the care of his relatives, but he was a fair person.

A few minutes passed as all seven of them stood there in silence. The sound of footsteps made them turn their heads towards the entrance, but that tiny distraction was enough. With a practiced grace, Regulus and Harry shot stunners towards the two Aurors standing guard at the entrance whereas Sirius turned into a huge dog to tackle the other two. Not too soon, all four Aurors had been subdued. It seemed that the three had a short conversation in their minds before the attack on the Aurors.

Albus Dumbledore took in everything as he watched the three Stun and capture the four Aurors. He recognized the shortest one among the three to be Harry Potter, as his scar was evidently shown then. The Animagus dog was obviously Sirius, but he was not able to venture a guess as to who the last guy was. He stepped out from the shadows and spoke out loud.

"Swear a magical oath that you were not involved in any way in James and Lily's deaths, Sirius, or I will personally send you to Azkaban," Dumbledore said quietly in a hardened voice. The deaths of James and Lily Potter had hit him hard, which was another reason why he was so desperate to find Harry. He felt like he owed them that.

Sirius Black transformed back from dog-form, standing tall and defiant as he swore the magical oath. After which, he pointed the wand at Dumbledore and shouted.

"_Lumos_!"

The wand lit up. A sign of Sirius' innocence.

Harry noted that Dumbledore was visibly relieved. "I've never believed that it was you who betrayed them; James and you were even closer than brothers. Who was the Secret Keeper then?" Dumbledore said, his face becoming solemn, as he had an inkling of who might have committed the betrayal.

"It was Peter Pettigrew," Sirius spat as he uttered the name of the person who used to be one of his best friends in school. He revealed where James and Lily lived. I knew it the moment Godric's Hollow went up in flames. We thought that by changing the Secret Keeper to someone nobody would expect, it would provide the ultimate security for James and Lily. We had never expected our plan to backfire on us." At the memory of his best friend's death, Sirius' face hardened.

"You can stop your probing Dumbledore, you know that it won't work," Regulus smirked as he interrupted their conversation. "In case you're wondering, I'm Regulus Black, son of Orion Black, brother of Sirius Black."

At the mention of Regulus' identity, Dumbledore remained impassive, but you could see his eyebrows going up slightly. Harry, who had understood everything Sirius said as he had already been told, only stood by the wall quietly, taking in the reactions of Dumbledore.

"Well, it seems like there are quite a few revelations to make today. I'd say we revive the Aurors andyou're your belongings from Illionaz before taking this portkey to my office at Hogwarts and discuss this awkward situation." Dumbledore said, a twinkle coming into his deep blue eyes as he started smiling. _It looks as though he hasn't smiled for a long time_, Harry thought to himself.

Together, they revived the Aurors who were embarrassed at being taken unaware. Sirius spared them a few blushes when he told them he used to be one of the top Aurors at the British Auror Academy, winking at one of the female Aurors. _Old habits die hard, I guess_, Harry mused in amusement as he watched his godfather flirt. Dumbledore then thanked them for their assistance and they went off after a while.

They went back to the house they were living in and prepared to move out while Dumbledore waited in their living room. After an hour, they finally got all their things ready and left Illionaz for Britain.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_Once again, in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry… (Seems like a popular place)_

"…while I understand the situation, Sirius, you should know better than me how unreasonable the Ministry can be at times. After you've escaped the Azkaban prison, they've lost a lot of pride and would have wanted to recover from that incident by capturing you even if you are innocent," explained Dumbledore. "As such, I'm afraid you can not appear in public in any time soon, until we've located where Pettigrew is."

Sirius nodded his hand to show that he understood the risks.

Dumbledore continued. "On the other hand, will you allow Harry to study here at Hogwarts since he has already been discovered? All of us know how much Harry's resurgence will mean to wizarding world. I personally believe that Voldemort is not yet dead, and is simply waiting for the chance to strike back."

Sirius thought for a while before consulting Harry, "So kiddo, what do you think? Do you want to attend Hogwarts?"

Harry pretended to think for a while before shouting out his answer. "Yes! Of course! It's been such a long time since I've met people my own age!" Harry exclaimed excitedly, thinking of the prospect of meeting friends.

"Well, I guess that answered your question," Sirius said, smiling.

Dumbledore smiled and knew that part of his problems had been solved since Harry had agreed to study in Hogwarts. After that, they discussed that Harry's custody would go to Regulus who would assume an identity Dumbledore would assist in creating. Dumbledore was informed of the adventure Sirius had shared with Regulus prior to his 'death'. They had also come up with a plausible story about Harry's sudden appearance, something along the lines that the man who had kidnapped Harry was actually his long lost uncle. It was vague, but it would satisfy for now.

As the meeting was coming to a close, Dumbledore asked Harry the subjects he wanted to take before passing him a list of what he had to buy. He then told him, "Harry, you will find out which house you are in when school reopens on September 1st. And oh, don't forget to buy a wand too." He winked at Harry, who had turned beet red with embarrassment for untraceable wands were illegal for underage wizards.

Together, Harry, Regulus and Sirius left Hogwarts and proceeded to 12 Grimmauld Place, their current home in Britain, to settle down. It was the only building owned by the Blacks that had the most protection currently and had a good location. Security measures and the subsequent protection wards would be put in placed on the building the following day. The Fidelius Charm would also be used and the Secret Keeper, after much debate, would be Dumbledore himself.

When the three of them left, Dumbledore heaved a sigh of relief. _It seems like young Harry was not corrupted after all, and he seems to be leading a happy life_, smiled Dumbledore. He was most afraid that Harry would turn Dark, and the prophecy would become void. Thinking about the prophecy made him frown. Nobody else in this world knew about it, for he had only told the Potters about it, and made them promise not to tell anyone else. Nobody as young as Harry should be given such a heavy responsibility. _In fact, it shouldn't be part of anyone's destiny at all_! Dumbledore thought sadly.

_Well, that's just another problem to solve. Now, how should I announce Harry's return?_ Dumbledore pondered heavily, while eating one of his famous Lemon Drops.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_A few months after Harry's re-appearance in the wizarding world…_

"Sirius! Sirius! I'm still on the team! Woohoo!" An elated Harry sprinted down from his room to the living room holding a letter in his hand, which looks livelier than when they first entered.

Sirius, who appeared to be doing some research paper looked up and smiled. Harry showed him the letter bearing the insignia of the Draconian Dragons. Browsing through the contents, he could tell the reason why Harry was so excited. It appeared that after they have "emigrated" from Illionaz back to Britain, Harry was sent a letter from the coach asking about him. As Illionaz was a magical capital, their Qudditch team was allowed to have members from all over the world. However, despite that advantage, they had never made it through further than the group stages. After exchanging a series of letter, Harry managed to convince the coach that while he might be studying in Hogwarts while they were training, he could arrange to practice with them fortnightly. Moreover, Harry added that there was Qudditch in Hogwarts too, so he could also practice there.

Eventually, after much compromise, Harry was invited into the reserve team where he was not required to participate in the weekly trainings held by the Dragons. They also realised his real identity when Harry told them in one of his letters and understood the advantage they would have in the marketing and media industry for their Qudditch team – after all, they had The-Boy-Who-Lived! That was advertisement in itself already.

"That's great! By the way, what makes you so assured that you will be guaranteed a place in the Qudditch team when you reach Hogwarts?" teased Sirius.

"Ha, we will see then. Never underestimate the Potter Charm," with that, Harry winked at his godfather and went off to his room again. It was the first time Harry was going to school, so it was only natural for him to want to excel in his studies and prove to others that The-Boy-Who-Lived would not be only famous for his scar. He was spending all his time in his room reading the textbooks bought. At the rate at which he was reading, it would not be long before he started requesting for past year textbooks.

Sirius smiled again for Harry had reminded him very strongly of Lily. Lily was a very studious Head Girl and could often be found hiding in the library or reading somewhere. It was only after James and she became a couple did her reading habits become less frequent. Then again, the way he held himself and the way he spoke were also very… James-like.

Sirius then shook his head from his thoughts before concentrating on his research once again. This was one project he could not afford to fool around.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_Back in Harry's room…_

Harry was bored, and he twirled his newly bought holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches wand while daydreaming about how school would be like. He thought about his choice of subjects. Dumbledore had told him that the compulsory subjects were Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions and Transfiguration. Harry had then decided to overlook Divination and instead took Arithmancy to satisfy the minimum number of subjects that could be taken. Most of the contents in Charms, DADA, Potions and Transfiguration for his year were easy for Harry as he had already gone through it with Regulus and Sirius.

As Harry daydreamt, his mind drifted back to the day he went to Diagon Alley to purchase his stuff. The day after Dumbledore released a press statement about his return to the wizarding world, articles that predicted where Harry had been mushroomed overnight. Harry could not help but laugh each time he came across a ridiculous speculation. Some said Harry attended a secret school and had developed special powers; others believed that Harry was captured by wizards who had obliviated his memories of the stay. Harry got used to the articles and was not bothered by them at all. What he did not expect was the reaction of the wizarding public towards him. It was a nightmare.

Flashback

_That fateful day, Harry had decided to be done away with concealing himself with his metamorphmagus abilities and went to Diagon Alley with Regulus looking like… himself. The moment the first shout of 'Harry Potter' went up Harry was immediately mobbed by the crowd – a crowd which consisted mostly of girls. Girls were grabbing at Harry everywhere; some asking him to sign autographs, while others gave him their contact numbers and even photos! Thinking about the photos made Harry blushed – there were a few of the photos that would be considered indecent. Another incident was even more embarrassing, as Harry recalled a girl, or rather, woman of about twenty-years of age asking him to sign on a private part of her body. Harry was so shocked that he would have fallen to the ground had Regulus not catch him in time. Luckily for him, Regulus managed to shoo off the crowd with a few magnificent display of fireworks. Even then, there were still a few of the more daring girls who approached him while he was shopping for his school items, and he decided to appease them by signing his autograph for them. _

_Bad mistake._

_Immediately after the first batch of girls went off exclaiming how lucky they were to get Harry Potter to sign for them, the crowd of girls had decided to swarm him again. Harry's day ended with a bang, literally, as Regulus decided to Side-Apparate with Harry back to the street of their unplottable home. _

_Upon reaching home, Regulus recounted the events that happened to Sirius, and both laughed at the expense of Harry, who was blushing so much he practically looked like a tomato. _

"_Well, well, it seems like our young Harry here is quite the charmer, eh? We would better start filtering his mail in case he should receive any other nude photos," Regulus said in between laughing._

_Sirius roared with laughter, his eyes sparkling with tears, as he struggled to gain back control over his speech. "Definitely! It seems that Harry is in need of some lesson on how to deal with girls, bro." Between looking at the maniac grins displayed by both the Blacks and moving back, Harry somehow found himself cornered by them. His only reply back a weak grin._

End of Flashback

Looking out at the window, he discovered that the sun had already set. Finding himself sleepy, he lay down on the bed and cleared his mind. The last words he whispered before sleep had claimed him were 'finally… a new life'.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

**Author's Note**: I have purposely chose not to include Harry's birthday celebration as it might seem quite boring with only Regulus and Sirius around. However, if enough people request for it, I might re-edit this chapter to include it. :) Also, watch out for a Harry vs Snape encounter in the next chapter!


	3. Interesting Events

**Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews, **Bael**, **fifespice **and** Dreamer of Destiny**! Also, much thanks to **Dreamer of Destiny** who had pointed out one major discrepancy about the time Sirius had spent in Azkaban, which has been changed. The age problem has also been addressed. The exact wording has been changed to 'close to 9 years later...' Finally, the last change I made was that it should have been 'Arithmancy' instead of 'Ancient Runes'. Sorry for the errors! With that, enjoy

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

**Chapter 3 – Interesting Events**

_At Platform Nine and Three Quarters…_

"Hey Harry, Sirius wanted me to pass you this message before you got on the train," Regulus told Harry just as the train wardens were giving the final call for passengers. "Take care and do write back regularly. Oh ya, don't you dare forget to uphold the Marauder's legacy." With that, Regulus gave a smirked before giving Harry a hug.

The moment they broke off the embrace, Harry started to run towards the closest entrance to the train and shouted back his reply, "Don't worry Dan, I'll write back weekly about the 'exciting things' I've done!" Dan McBlack was Regulus' cover and Harry's 'mysterious uncle'.

Harry made it into the train just as it was starting to move and waved back to Regulus as the train was picking up speed. When Regulus was finally out of sight, Harry then made a move to locate a seat in one of the compartments. Not wanting to conceal his identity anymore, Harry had used some of the magical gel he had to 'spice up' his hair and the infamous lightning bolt scar was clearly evident on his forehead. He walked confidently through the carriages as he tried to find a seat, though if he was honest with himself, he was feeling extremely nervous. After all, it was his first time meeting so many people of his age.

The first whispers started when he entered a carriage full of girls. Harry took a look around and not finding a seat, he immediately carried on to the next carriage, the girls there took a look at his physique (he did have lots of training, what with the duelling and Qudditch practices) and his scar before erupting into furious whispers. Trying hard to ignore them, he went on to the next carriage, and much to his relief, there was an empty seat beside a bushy-haired girl who was reading a book. To her left, a tall and lanky red-haired guy was speaking loudly about his adventures to a bunch of younger kids, though Harry had only managed to catch the words 'chamber', 'sister' and 'basilisk'. _Oh wait, basilisk?_

"Hey, did you just say basilisk?" Harry asked the red-haired guy curiously. He had read about how lethal they were and was interested to know more.

"That's right, I was telling them about… about…" the red-haired guy was about to continue when he saw the lightning-bolt scar. "Wait a minute, you're… you're Harry Potter!" His eyes became so wide that Harry was wondering whether it would pop out of his sockets.

That exclamation by the red-haired guy did, however, quietened everyone in the carriage. Once again, Harry felt a sense of déjà vu as everyone around him stared at his scar. Mustering the remnants of courage left in him, he managed to mutter a 'ya'.

Getting uncomfortable with the stares, he was about to made a move to leave the carriage when the bushy-haired girl to his left stood up and said to the red-haired guy in a disapproving manner, "Ron, you should know better than to stare at someone," before turning back to Harry and said, "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger and that rude _boy_ over there is Ronald Weasley. We'll both be in third year this year. How about you?" There was an obvious emphasis on the word 'boy'.

_Finally, someone with a bit more sense than others_, Harry thought as he chuckled at the tone the girl in front of him had carried when she spoke about the red-haired guy.

"Well, as everyone seems to know already, I'm Harry Potter and I'll be in third-year too," he said smiling, before stretching out his hand to shake Hermione's. The awkward silence returned after that, and he felt obliged to break it, so he decided that the best course of action was to continue his previous line of inquiry.

"So, what was it about a basilisk? I've read about it somewhere before," Harry asked Ron, who was starting to recover from being awe-struck.

Ron puffed out his chest and said in a pompous voice, "I've defeated a basilisk last year and saved my sister from its evil hands."

"Defeat a basilisk? How's that possible?" Harry said, surprised. He learnt that basilisk skin was almost as tough or even tough than dragon skin, and that was saying something.

"Oh Harry, you shouldn't listen to Ron. He's always boasting about his 'wondrous deeds'," she said, rolling her eyes. "If not for Fawkes, both of us would have died long ago."

Hermione then went on to describe the events that had led to their fateful meeting with the basilisk, including the Chamber of Secrets and the Diary. Their adventure eventually came to an end when Dumbledore appeared to subdue the basilisk.

"You should have seen how awesome Professors Dumbledore was!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. Harry noticed she always became keyed up when talking about magic. "He brandished his magic and struck the basilisk with magical fire. He then uttered a long and complicated spell that sent the Basilisk flying at the walls of the Chamber!"

Hermione continued relating the exciting events that had happened to them, including their first year encounter with Voldemort, with Ron adding a few of his comments here and there. By then, the second-years were tired of listening of the story, which they had heard of quite a few times before, and had left their carriage.

Harry was feeling quite happy then. He had made two friends who were obviously warm and helpful. They were currently discussing what house Harry would be in after he had told them that he had no idea where he would be sorted to. His friends assured him that he would definitely be sorted into Gryffindor like them, and he certainly hoped so. From what Regulus and Sirius had told him, his mum and dad were also in Gryffindor. At that moment, the carriage door opened and two red-heads popped out. They were obviously twins.

"Hey Ronnikins –" started one of them.

"– Someone told us that –"

"– a certain person, whom our little sister had a crush on, is right here –"

"– seating and talking with you. –"

"– And so, we're here to ask you –"

"– if that is true."

They took a look at Ron, who was turning red at the mention of his nickname, before turning their heads to look at who was beside him.

"Oh!" they said in unison. During their speech, Harry was staring amusedly at their interesting way of continuing one another's speech. He burst out laughing when they had finally made the connection by looking at his scar. They moved from the door and sat down on the empty seats.

"Well, anyway, he's Fred –"

"– and he's George –"

"– and we're pleased to meet you," they said it simultaneously once more.

After introducing themselves, they remained in the carriage for a while, talking about trying out some new pranks on some of the 'newbies' before leaving. Whereas Ron was looking excited, Hermione was shaking her head and showing her obvious displeasure at what they were doing. Harry, on the other hand, pretended to be disinterested. _This is going to be more fun than I'd thought it'd be_, Harry smirked inwardly. After all, pranking was one of his specialties, having been in the company of Sirius, one of the greatest pranksters in the history of Hogwarts, for quite a while now. He made a silent wish that they would prank him. _They would never know what hit them_, Harry thought, feeling amused.

Harry tried to ask Ron about his sister and what the twins meant about the 'crush', but Ron had pointedly ignored him about the questions and tried to steer him away from the topic, whereas Hermione was simply smiling knowingly but chose not to answer any of his questions either. Conceding defeat, Harry finally stopped asking, making a mental note to find out what this 'mystery' was all about. When they asked about his holidays, he gave them a condensed version of the story concocted by Dumbledore, Regulus and Sirius.

Of course, the conversation was soon shifted to Qudditch and Hermione went back to reading her book, all the while thinking about what kind of person Harry was. She had read a lot of books concerning his involvement in the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and was very curious as to what he was in person. _Hmmm, I guess I will just observe him for a while… though he made a pretty good first impression, I must say_, Hermione smiled at the thought.

Ron, on the other hand, almost suffered a heart attack when he heard that Harry was playing for the Draconian Dragons as a reserve Chaser in the upcoming Qudditch World Cup.

"Blimey, Harry! That's totally wicked!" Ron said, his ears not believing what Harry had just said. For a moment, Harry had thought that Ron might even _worship_ him on the spot.

"I try to please," Harry smiled, before showing him the letter sent to him by the Dragons. By then, Ron was almost suffocating from excitement for his friend, and Harry had to cast a Calming Charm on him to prevent any accident from happening. They started discussing Qudditch strategies and what tactics could be employed in certain situations. There was also a lot of mention about a Qudditch team called Chudley Cannons, so Harry reckoned it was Ron's favourite Qudditch team. Both of them were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice the door to their carriage opening.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Potter, are you sure you want to mix with the Mudblood and the Weasel?" a blond-haired student wearing the badge of Slytherin on his robes said condescending and smirked. By then, he got the attention of Ron, Hermione and Harry, whose eyes started to flare up. Anyone who saw Harry then would have understood it as a danger sign, but that blond-haired kid chose to ignore it and continue speaking.

"Wouldn't you rather be in the company of purebloods like – "

Before he could finish what he was saying, Harry stood up and grabbed the wand bought from Ollivander's from his pocket, sending a Blasting Curse at the arrogant kid. The blond-haired kid flew across the carriage next to them and hit the door hard.

"NEVER, EVER, SPEAK ABOUT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT!" Harry roared. Since young, Sirius had been very strict about the use of words such as Mudblood, and had explained to Harry its significance. He also told Harry that Voldemort was just among one of the many out in the society who believed in pureblood supremacy, which had eventually led the reign of terror led by Voldemort. Anything that was related to Voldemort obviously brought on Harry's ire as he remembered his parents demise at the scum's hands.

While the two stocky students who had entered with the blond-haired kid stood by dumbly, the arrogant kid stood up shakily and shouted, "How dare you! Filthy low-life, I'll let my father know about this, and you shall remember never to –"

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" another spell shot from Harry's wand and came into contact with the blond-haired kid, binding his body and effectively stopping him from saying what he had wanted. By then, the blond-haired kid started to feel slightly frightened, as an aura seemed to exude from Harry. Everyone who was near Harry could feel his anger coming out in waves and stepped back subconsciously.

"Let's go!" Harry said sharply, turning and returned to his carriage. All the bystanders watched on silently as Harry exited from their carriage in style. Before long, everyone started talking about the incident excitedly, and the rumours soon spread to everyone on the train.

"Serves Malfoy right," Ron said the moment the three of them were back in the safety of their carriage. Hermione looked at Harry worriedly, wondering what had triggered that explosive reaction from Harry. After all, they had just met him, so she did not know him very well.

"Don't worry, I won't bite," Harry said tiredly as he looked up at Hermione. Even with his weak Legilimency, he could pick up Hermione's thoughts.

"The reason why I was so angry at Malfoy was because he had used certain words I was sensitive too," Harry started to explain when he had calmed down. "My parents died because of some shitheads who believed in pureblood supremacy (A/N: Harry did not know about the prophecy yet.), and since then, I had led a life on the run." He said bitterly.

Hermione nodded her head in sympathy, understanding how difficult it would be for anyone who became famous in the wizarding world at the expense of one's parents. Ron just patted Harry's shoulders awkwardly and said, "Don't worry too much about it, mate."

After the awkward silence had passed, Hermione challenged Harry to a chess game to get his concentration away from the incident while Ron supervised both of them. Everything went on fine, and the only unpleasant interruption they had was from Percy, another brother of Ron, who was telling Harry off and something along the lines of not using offensive magic at students. It was obviously a futile effort on Percy's part as Harry ignored him throughout his lecture, instead choosing to concentrate on the chess game he was playing against Ron then. Other than that, their train ride was quite a peaceful one.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_In the Great Hall a few hours later…_

"… Winter, Zachary!"

Harry waited in anticipation as the last first-year boy went ahead to be sorted, and a moment later…

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted.

The stocky boy walked proudly to the Slytherin amidst cheers, and finally, it was Harry's turn.

"And it is with great pleasure that I present Harry Potter, who has since returned to us after being in his mysterious uncle's care for the past few years," Dumbledore said while smiling.

Smiling nervously as everyone in the hall was either busy staring at him or whispering to their friends about the things they have heard about him on the train, Harry walked up with the grace and confidence taught by Regulus and Sirius. Once again, he thanked them inwardly for forcing him to take lessons on social etiquette and other miscellaneous stuff when he was young. As he was walking down the isle, he noticed Ron and Hermione waving to him from the Gryffindor table and acknowledged them with a smile.

Too soon, he had reached the stool with the hat on it. Picking it up with his hands slightly shaking, he placed it on his head, all the while wishing that it would send him to Gryffindor.

_GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! _

_**Will you shut up about it and listen to what I have to say about you?**_

**_All right, that's much better. Interesting one… Slytherin would serve you well too, seeing that you can be cunning at times, and certainly are ambitious. _**

Harry shuddered at the thought of joining Slytherin but listened on silently as the Sorting Hat told him more about his personal qualities.

**_It will also do you good to join the Ravenclaws, for you are intelligent and witty. Hufflepuff would not be a bad choice either, for I've seen that you could be a very hardworking person at times, and certainly loyal to those you love. _**

**_However, seeing that you're so desperate to join the Gryffindors, and that you have the required bravery and courage… I shall send you to…_**

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat exclaimed.

With great relief, Harry muttered a word of thanks and left the Sorting Hat on the stool, making his way to the Gryffindor. There, Ron and Hermione had saved him a seat, and he was quite pleased – until he noticed something amiss.

_Looks like the twins wanted to give the 'newbie' here some surprise, huh? Well, it's not gonna work…_ Harry grinned as he noticed that the seat was right next to Fred, or was it George? Even though he had made a silent promise not to use it on friends, the twins' thoughts were practically broadcasting it at him, thus he could pick up what they had in plan with his Legilimency and discovered their prank in time.

While walking towards his seat, the Headmaster began his customary speech to begin the feast. That worked perfectly to Harry's advantage as everyone's attention riveted back to Professor Dumbledore. He took out his wand discreetly from his sleeves and muttered the words "_Finite Incantatem_" at his seat, taking his time to walk to the chair. The moment he reached his seat, he could feel the eyes of the twins boring into him in gleeful expectation, but he did nothing to reveal that he knew what was going on, and greeted those around him whom he knew with a straight face.

One minute had passed. Professor Dumbledore ended his introductory speech.

Five minutes later, Harry looked up from his food and turned to face the twin on his right.

"Is there any reason why you're staring at me as though I'm some ghost?" Harry said innocently.

"Hm, don't you feel hot at all?" One of the twins asked worriedly, not answering Harry's question.

"Why would I be? The charms placed in the hall are keeping the temperature cool and nice."

"Are you sure there's nothing? No itch, no sudden rise of temperature?" By this time, the other twin who was seated across started to join the conversation too.

"I definitely feel fine. On the other hand, both of you don't SEEM fine," Harry said, before narrowing his eyes and asked suspiciously, "Is there anything I should know?"

"No, no –"

"Everything's fine."

"We're just worried that –"

"– you being a newcomer and all –"

"– would need some extra help and stuff."

"Yep, just brotherly concern –"

_Brotherly concern my ass_, Harry smirked inwardly as the twins continued talking.

"Nothing to worry about, indeed –"

"If there's nothing else –"

"– we will be tucking into our meal."

With that, they turned away from Harry and went back to their food, not before sharing a confused look.

"When my brothers start doing that," Ron whispered to Harry whom he was seated next to. "It's a sure sign that you have been picked for one of their experiments."

"Expect to be pranked in the near future, they don't usually fail in their pranks," Ron said empathically, thinking about the 'tortures' Harry would be subjected to. He understood it very well, as he used to be their guinea pig at home.

Harry only nodded his head absentmindedly as he begun thinking about the experiments he had with Regulus and Sirius, and of course, the many explosions that had accompanied some of them. _I'll see what accessories I have access to when lessons start before making my move_, Harry thought to himself, excitement building up as the numerous possibilities of what he could be doing fleeted across his mind.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_At the staff table…_

Dumbledore chuckled and said to the man beside him, "Harry has certainly inherited his father's interests in the art of pranking."

The man smiled and thought about the many times James had them planning a major prank on a certain Slytherin, and the subsequent many times they got caught in the act. Those were the good times.

"I agree, Albus. And when can I meet up with a certain dog?" the man muttered.

"We'll arrange a meeting as soon as possible. You have my assurance that he's trustworthy, Remus." Albus replied quietly while cutting his beef into smaller pieces.

"That's the problem I'm least afraid of. The fact that Harry turned out to be ok is more than enough proof of it. I just wanted to… apologize to him… and perhaps, catch up with one another."

"I understand how you feel. Don't worry about it too much," Dumbledore smiled and replied, his blue eyes twinkling as usual.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_In the minds of two mischievous twins…_

(In bold/italic: George. In italic: Fred)

_**Hey Gred, are you sure there's nothing wrong with the spell? **_

_I'm very sure about it. Remember that we always test-proof our pranks before carrying them out?_

_**Hm… then why was Harry unaffected? From our past experiments, he should be feeling very, VERY, hot.**_

_Ya, you would be able to see the symptoms of heat exhaustion…_

_**And more excitingly, the fainting part!**_

_Yes… but it seems like we're missing something Forge. _

**_Yes, we'd better find it out soon. I don't like the fact that our first prank of the year is having problems. Bad omen, you know, as though we might be facing more problems in the future._**

_I certainly hope not my brother. Now, let's plan our next prank on Harry…_

Little did they know how true George's last statement was…

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_Back at the Gryffindor's table…_

"Here's your schedule for your classes tomorrow," a stern lady said as she passed the students in Gryffindor their schedules for lessons. Harry recognized her as Professor McGonagall, the head of his house. When the three of them had gotten their schedules, they started comparing them.

"What subjects are you taking, Harry?" Hermione started asking as she looked through her schedule.

"Well, the compulsory ones and Arithmancy. Oh ya, I dropped Divination to take up Arithmancy, as seems like a useless subject to me." Harry replied, comparing his timetable with Ron while saying that.

"What? Are you out of your bonkers, Harry?" said a surprised Ron. "Arithmancy? Only bookworms take that subject." Harry just shrugged and replied, "My uncle told me it's useful in certain aspects of spellcasting."

Hermione, however, did not take that comment as well as Harry. "Who are you calling a bookworm, Ronald?" Her eyes flared up and one might have thought she was really angry then.

Ron gulped as he just realised what he had said, "Erm, I wasn't really thinking…"

"Glad you know that," Hermione said and smiled sweetly. _Wow, talk about a 180 degree change! Girls are certainly weird,_ Harry shook his head as he witnessed his friends' reactions.

"Anyway, I've also dropped Divination for Arithmancy. Also I've managed to convince Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore to allow me to drop Herbology for Ancient Runes too, seeing that it was the only subject with the most number of periods in sync with Ancient Runes." Hermione continued. "So I will be taking extra lessons to catch up for those that I can't attend in Ancient Runes."

"I guess that means we will all be in the same class except during Divination and Herbology," Ron said brightly.

"Ya, and hopefully the professors will be good at teaching their stuff," Harry said.

"_Most_ of them are good," Ron started as they walked back to their dormitories. And soon, they were discussing about the professors, who was good and who was not, though they seemed to discuss more about a certain Potions professor than any others.

Unknown to them, a rat had just sneaked out of Ron's bag and was making its way to the Forbidden Forest.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

**Author's Note**: Really sorry for not including the Harry vs Snape part! I just realised how long this chapter would be if I had chose to include the lessons, hope you guys won't mind. As for pairings, I think that being in third year is too young an age to start having relationships, so I will hold off the pairings until fourth year. However, if you feel that 13 is a reasonable age, feel free to provide your reasons and I will see. :)

**Next Chapter**: Harry vs Hermione and Harry vs Snape! Haha, let's see who's the first to figure out what the Harry vs Hermione incident would be like. ;)


	4. Weird Lessons

**Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note**: Much thanks goes to **fifespice**, **imakeeper**, **Count-Colville **and** Dreamer of Destiny** for your reviews! I guess I changed my opinion about hating Ron… it just seems abnormal for them _not_ to be good friends. As for Dumbledore, I don't really like him being depicted as manipulative, so I'm keeping him nice and warm for now. :P I've altered my initial plans about Harry vs Hermione and added Ron in… hope you guys will enjoy it

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

**Chapter 4 – Weird Lessons**

_Deep in the Forbidden Forest…_

"Wormtail, what do you have to report?" A man with a raspy voice asked.

"Master, the Potter boy is here," the man called Wormtail said nervously as he kneeled before the stunted figure in front of him.

"Very well, let the plan proceed then," the man said.

"Yes, master," Wormtail answered.

In a blink of an eye, one man disappeared, and instead, a rat stood in his place. The rat took a few moments sniffing out his location before moving away and back to Hogwarts…

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_In the Great Hall…_

"Oh no, we got Potions first _with_ the slimy Slytherins," bemoaned Ron as he checked his schedule.

The trio had just finished their breakfast and were making their way to the first class of the year.

"My uncle used to study at Hogwarts too, and he knows of a Snape whom he described as 'a greasy git'," Harry said, his eyes darting around as he looked around the corridor for any 'dangers'. He had suspected that the twins would try another prank on him as soon as they had finished planning one, so he told himself to be extra cautious these few days.

"Then we should be talking about the same guy," Ron replied cheerfully. "He's obviously a greasy git." Insulting Snape was like a past-time for him.

"It's _Professor_ Snape, Ron." Hermione started, being the model and respectful student Harry knew her to be.

"Alright," Ron acquiesced and continued talking to Harry. "Where was I? Oh yes, I wanted to tell you about the incident where Snape had bullied Neville…" Harry bit back a laugh while Hermione just shook her head in defeat. Some things never changed.

Not long later, they found themselves in a dark and gloomy dungeon and quickly found a seat together. Lack of punctuality would have resulted in loss of points especially to their house, Hermione explained to Harry. The rest of the students soon trickled in.

It took a while, but Professor Snape soon entered the dungeon last and closed the door behind them with a loud and ominous bang. As he walked to the front with his robes billowing behind, Harry observed that he had greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin. Just like what Sirius had told him to look out for.

"10 points from Gryffindor," Professor Snape said all of a sudden. "There will be no whispering behind my back Ms Patil." He finished talking and turned away from the direction of Parvati, a pretty girl who has long dark hair worn in a plait, making his way to the front of the classroom. Harry got to know a few of his housemates the night before, no thanks to his scar.

With a swish of his wand, Professor Snape pointed at the board and instructions appeared. "You shall be brewing the Draught of Living Death today and you will be working in pairs." Whispers could be heard immediately after he said that and Hermione whispered to Harry, "That's an advanced potion! We shouldn't be doing that so early!"

"However," Professor Snape said, effectively stopping all the noise in the class. He turned to look at Harry and revealed an evil smile before continuing. "As Mr. Potter is new to our class, he shall be working alone to be assessed."

Hermione immediately stood up and went to Harry's defence. "But sir, the Draught of the Living Death is a sixth-year potion which should not be used as an assessment."

"Are you questioning my teaching capabilities, Ms Granger?"

From the tone of Professor Snape's voice, Hermione knew that what she said would be of no use and sat down before saying, "No, sir."

"Good. 10 points from Gryffindor for interrupting me," Professor Snape sneered, eliciting laughs from the Slytherins.

Harry had expected something like that to happen after all that Sirius had told him about Snape. He even knew of the incident that involved his dad and Snape, but Sirius had told him how much his dad had changed after becoming a prefect, and Harry believed him.

Professor Snape looked at Harry, as if wanting him to challenge his authority, but Harry simply smiled back. Eventually, the professor broke the eye contact and said out, "If there are no further questions, you shall begin. I expect to see a perfectly brewed Draught of the Living Death at the end of the lesson, or you shall get a zero for your assessment. The same goes for you, Potter."

Harry stood up and moved away from Ron and Hermione with his potions stuff, telling them not to worry about him. What they did not know was that the potion Professor Snape had assigned was one he was quite familiar with. He had to learn how to brew that when the Blacks and he were experimenting with a new candy which they named the Sleeping Sweet. It was quite a success in the end, and after losing a coin toss with Regulus, Harry ended up being the guinea pig and had to sleep for one whole day until the effects had ended.

Harry started to prepare his ingredients, not even looking at the board since he knew them at the back of his hand. At the front of the classroom, Professor Snape stared at the boy, whose father he had grown to hate, feeling unease. _Why did he smile back so confidently?_ He then noticed that the boy did not even look at the instructions at the board and continued working at an easy pace.

Harry took out the silver knife he had brought along and squeezed the juice out of the sopophorous beans. He learnt that it was a more effective way of acquiring the juice rather than cutting after many experiments. He continued the rest of the potion-brewing easily, occasionally feeling an intruding presence in his mind. _Just like what Sirius said, Snape will never resist the opportunity to 'mind-rape'. Well, he's in for some fun…_ Harry smirked.

The mind of a normal wizard would lie open and any skilled Legilimens would be able to see that person's memories. Moreover, the information would also be scattered around, unless the person happened to be very organized. However, the minds of strong Occlumens are sheltered with layers of protection.

Generally, there were two kinds of protection: one, the direct type, which involved placing a strong mind shield so that Legilimens who were weak would not be able to break though at all; two, the subtle type, which involved placing fake memories on the surface whereas the real ones were hidden behind a shroud which only a strong Legilimen would be able to detect, and break. Harry, however, had prepared a surprise in his mind. He had started creating a few memories of Snape in various female clothing the moment he felt an intruding presence in his mind, and faked a mind shield that would be easily broken. When he was ready, he allowed Snape entry to his mind.

Professor Snape, being curious as to how Harry Potter was able to breeze through brewing that particular potion that even sixth-years had difficulty in making, had decided to use his Legilimency to use. _Hm… I wonder what kind of embarrassing memories I will find in that brain of the Potter brat_, Professor Snape smirked.

He closed his eyes and pretended to think while he slowly entered Harry's mind. Powerful Legilimens like him did not require the need to look into the other person's eyes, though it would certainly be easier to gain access to the mind. It took a while for him to gain entry to his mind, and he quickly found a weak shield present in Harry's mind._ To think the Potter brat has been taught Occlumency… but nevertheless, his shield is weak and pathetic, just like him_. Snape sneered inwardly. After a few seconds, he broke through the shield with a satisfied grin, but he had never expected was the tirade of memories that flooded him the moment he entered.

"_Would this pink and frilly dress look good on me, Auntie McGonagall?" Snape asked in a shrill voice as he gave a spin to show Professor McGonagall his dress. He then attempted to use his puppy eyes method on her, knowing that it would never fail._

_Much to his disbelief, Professor McGonagall shook her head disapprovingly and Snape burst into tears, disappointed that he…_

"Damn you Potter!" Snape shrieked as he finally managed to break away from that mind trap. He clenched his fist in anger as he had just realised he shouted in front of the whole class. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, whereas Harry continued stirring nonchalantly in his cauldron before looking up with a bored face and said, "Yes, professor?"

Professor Snape tried to rein in his anger, but Harry's blasé attitude just stroke the fury in him to greater heights. Knowing that it was all Harry's fault, but not being able to reveal the trap he had entered, he started firing questions at Harry, hoping to deduct points from Harry's house. Everyone in the class was surprised at the professor's sudden outcry, even the Slytherins. To the general population of students, he was usually a cold and emotionless person.

"Fluxweed is an ingredient used for making which potion?"

"Polyjuice potion," Harry replied in his bored tone. Deep inside, he was laughing at Snape and knew that Snape wanted to vent his anger on Harry by making him answer questions that he should not be able to know. _Well, he's in for a good time then_, Harry mused.

Professor Snape then asked a few more questions at Harry, who had, to the surprise of the class, answered all of them accurately and fast. Professor Snape was equally surprised at the accuracy and speed at which Harry answered his questions, but that simply made him angrier, and he started asking more difficult ones.

"What is the colour of a Shrinking Potion?" Professor Snape asked, as his anger slowly simmered down, though his hatred of the Potters just increased tenfold that day.

"Green, though acid green would be more accurate," Harry answered, not bothering to look up at the professor and instead concentrated on his potion.

"15 points from Gryffindor. You shall look at me when I speak to you," Professor Snape snarled. "Is that clear?"

"Sorry, but this potion requires my immediate attention, unless you want it to explode," Harry replied, feeling angry at the points deducted.

"Another 15 points from Gryffindor! You shall speak with respect to your professors and end your sentence with a 'sir'!" Snape said coldly with a smile. By then, his anger had festered into a deep hatred, though he felt a grim satisfaction at deducting points from Gryffindor.

The whole class was staring at both of them, with the Slytherins snickering while the Gryffindors were feeling miserable. Many believed that their house points would be close to negative now. Only Ron and Hermione were actually feeling afraid for him. They knew how Professor Snape was like.

Harry, on the other hand, was feeling infuriated too. _30 points deducted for nothing! What a bloody git!_ Harry thought angrily. He turned his head sharply and looked into Professor Snape's eyes. Despite his weak Legilimency, he was still able to send messages to people of close proximity.

_Deduct another point and I shall let the class know who you really **are**_, Harry snarled as he sent that message to Professor Snape.

Professor Snape simply cocked an eyebrow before replying via Legilimency.

**_Your threats mean nothing to me, you insolent brat. You're just like your father, arrogant and good for nothing._**

All around Harry, the equipment started to shake. Harry's eyes were blazing once again, and those who saw him during the incident with Malfoy knew that Harry was pissed. Whatever Professor Snape did, it was no good.

Taking out his wand, Harry sent his completed Draught of Living Death potion towards the professor before muttering another spell. Immediately, all his stuff was packed into his bag neatly, except for his cauldron. Harry cleaned his cauldron with another spell before minimizing it and placing it into his bag. Without a word, he stormed out of the classroom, leaving an amazed class behind.

Professor Snape saw the potion hurling towards him just in time and managed to grab hold of it without spilling. To his surprise, the potion was a light shade of lilac, which means it was completed _as well as_ being perfect. He masked his surprise and told the distracted class to continue.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

Harry was mad. He started making his way to the Transfiguration classroom as it was his next class. Not seeing anyone in it yet, he sat by one corner and took out his notebook. Inside his notebook were all the experiments and cool spells he had learnt, and he browsed to see if there was anything interesting he could do. _Snape shall pay… my father was ten times a better man than he was_, Harry thought angrily. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. _An angry person is a brainless person_, Regulus once told him. _No use being angry with that git._

As he was browsing through the section on interesting spells, he found one on Transfiguration. _Might as well make myself comfortable, seeing that I've twenty minutes left before the lesson starts_, Harry thought. It was a spell that turned an object into a comfortable armchair. After about five minutes of spellwork, Harry finally managed to transfigure his stool into the desired armchair. He then sat down relaxed, wondering how he should behave in future Potions classes. _Maybe I should just treat him coldly and do whatever he says. If I continue what I just did, Gryffindor would definitely end up as the last House at the end of the year_, Hurry thought sensibly.

As Harry was deep in his thoughts, he was oblivious to Professor McGonagall's entry into the classroom. She preferred entering the classroom earlier so that she could prepare her coursework, so imagine her surprise when she found Harry sitting on a cosy armchair ten minutes before the first class was over. _Fine piece of work there though, I guess there's no need to give him an evaluation exam_, Professor McGonagall smiled as she made her way to Harry.

"Ahem, what are you doing here so early Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall asked, putting on her trademark stern looks.

Harry was shocked out of his train of thoughts and stood up immediately. "Erm, sorry Professor, Snape and I had a heated discussion and I decided to leave the class before I blasted anyone."

"That's _Professor_ Snape for you. A heated argument you say?" Professor McGonagall asked curiously. "Would you like to elaborate more on that?"

Harry decided he could trust his Head of House and started explaining how Professor Snape had treated him, adding in indignantly about the points deducted from Gryffindor. He hesitated about telling her about Professor Snape's attempt at viewing into his mind, but convinced himself that as his Head of House, she should know about it. When he finally finished relating the series of events that had happened in the Potions class, Professor McGonagall pressed her lips thin and looked angry. For a moment, Harry thought he had said something wrong.

"Well, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall finally said, after gathering her thoughts. "I'm glad you told me about this incident. Rest assured that I'll question my colleague about his method of teaching, and I'll also bring this to the Headmaster's attention. "

"Thank you Professor," Harry said and smiled. "I'll be going back to my seat now if there's nothing else?"

"Of course," she replied. "Before I forget, you might want to sign up for the Qudditch tryout that's happening this weekend. I heard that you're as good a flyer as James." She said and gave Harry one of her rare smiles.

Harry blushed at her compliment and told her he would sign up for it. Sirius had told him countless of times how good his father was as a Chaser, and he hoped that he would be as good as his dad one day. He went back to his seat and untransfigured the cosy seat before reading his textbook while waiting for his friends.

The students started streaming in after a while, and it appeared that the Gryffindors would be sharing the class with the Hufflepuffs. Ron and Hermione were looking around for him, and he could see that their relief when they finally found him.

"Wow, Harry, you've just become Hogwarts' first ever person to make Snape so pissed off," Ron said gleefully. "You should have seen his face when you slammed the doors!"

Harry just smiled. Ron was definitely anti-Snape. Maybe he could rope him in for a plan of his…

"How did you manage to finish the potion so quickly? I saw the colour of your potion when it flew across the room. It was the exact shade that the book says the completed potion should look like!" Hermione asked excitedly. Anything that was related to academic was of great interest to her. While she did not approve of Harry storming out of the dungeons, she could also tell that not everything was Harry's fault, and she was relieved that Harry did not do anything silly outside the classroom.

"Haha, I'm lucky that Snape chose that potion. I've done it lots of time when I was with my uncle," Harry explained. He did not want to lie to his friends, so he decided to tell them half-truths. "It was for some of his projects that he does at times, though he never tells me what he's exactly doing."

Hermione just nodded, accepting what he said. "I'll tell you more about it after class. Professor McGonagall's starting class." Harry said as the last student entered the classroom.

Their first lesson of the year was on transfiguring an old piece of rag into a piece of clothing. It went on smoothly with different people getting different results. Harry looked at Ron's piece of work and had to fight to keep from laughing. Ron had managed to transfigure his rag into… something _slightly_ better than a rag. Well, that was if you consider wearing a shapeless and oversized 'shirt' that had holes for your hands and head better. Hermione had done much better, transfiguring it into a dress, although it still retained the material of the rag.

Harry had transfigured his into robes with more or less the correct material, though it's just black with no other decorations. At the end of the lesson, surprisingly, it was Parvati's transfiguration that was the best. Although the material was still rough and some parts were frayed, it clearly looked the best. Harry was a close second, losing out to Parvati only in the design aspect, whereas Hermione came in third. Professor McGonagall awarded 15 points to Parvati, 10 to Harry and 5 to Hermione for their efforts before setting them with an assignment on the topic 'Transfiguration and Design: How they are related'.

Harry noticed that it was exactly 30 points earned for Gryffindor, the same number of points lost in his previous lesson, and looked suspiciously at Professor McGonagall. She pretended to look innocent, though if you noticed closely, the ends of her mouth were actually quirked up. At the end of the lesson, Harry was feeling much better and gave the professor a grateful smile before leaving for the next class.

Hermione, who had not taken being third in something well, was quizzing Harry on how he managed to alter the material of his transfiguration as they exited the classroom. It was not a lucky day for her, it seemed, as Harry chose to keep her anxious.

"Why don't we have a deal, Hermione," Harry said, after being asked for the tenth time on the subject of Transfiguration on their way to the Charms classroom.

Hermione stopped talking abruptly and motioned for Harry to continue.

"We'll have a mini-contest in the Charms lesson later," Harry started. "Before you say anything, I'll be the one setting the contest, and if you can beat me in it, I'll tell you how I transfigure the material of an object." By then, Harry was all smiles. Knowing Hermione, she would never put down a challenge.

"Alright," she replied, her eyes clearly showing her anticipation.

Ron, who was feeling a bit left out, said, "Hey, I'm not bad at Charms too, you guys mind if I join?"

Harry felt a bit embarrassed for leaving out his friend and immediately replied, "No, feel free to join in the fun," and ended with a smirk as some ideas drifted into his mind.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_30 minutes later in the Charms classroom…_

It was practical time, so everyone can roam around testing out the new charm. The trio found a corner and started their competition.

"This contest here is somewhat a combination of endurance and strength of the wizard," Harry began. "Everyone knows that spells can be of varying strength. For example, the _Wingardium Leviosa_ spell. If you apply more strength into your spell, the object can be raised higher." Ron and Hermione both nodded, listening attentively to Harry.

"Thus, I've decided on an interesting way we can practice today's charm in a competitive way," Harry declared, grinning mischievously at the end.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by that," Hermione asked suspiciously. The grin on Harry's face was a dead giveaway that his 'mini-contest' was not something easy. "The charm we learnt today is the Cheering Charm, so how do we go about competing?"

"This is how the game will be played," Harry said mysteriously with an eerie smile. "What we have to do is to cast the strongest Cheering Charm on someone else in this class. A powerful Cheering Charm is able to make someone faint or at least suffer from a nosebleed. The winner is the person who makes the most people faint or nosebleed."

Ron laughed and said, "That sounds fun. I'm in. What about you, Hermione? Are you up for the challenge?"

Of course, when Hermione heard that, she immediately declared herself in.

"The only rule in this game is not to let Professor Flitwick find out about this mini-contest. The person who gets discovered loses immediately," Harry said quietly, his eyes twinkling with joy. "Alright, if there are no further questions, let the game begin."

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_Later on in the Great Hall…_

Harry tried not to laugh. Serious, he tried very, very hard. But in the end, he still ended up laughing.

A red-faced Hermione spluttered indignantly, "Harry James Potter, you… you'd better stop laughing this instant!"

It did not help that a moment later Ron had burst into laughter too. People started casting curious and weird glances at them, but the trio were oblivious to them. Those who were in the same class as the trio understood what they were laughing at and smiled knowingly, while others told their neighbours what had happened.

"Oh god, you should have seen your face when Professor Flitwick asked what you were doing," Harry said weakly as he gasped for breath. His eyes glinted mischievously and he cleared his voice before imitating Hermione. "Oh Professor, I wasn't doing anything –"

SMACK!

"Ouch, that hurts," Harry raised his hands up in protection and struggled to say anything as he continued laughing before passing Hermione's bag back to her. Soon, even Hermione had joined in the laughter as it got too contagious.

Apparently, what had happened was that the class was about to end when Professor Flitwick noticed something amiss. Although it was normal for everyone to look happy after a session of Cheering Charms, he found that a certain bushy-haired student was going around testing out her Cheering Charms. Of course, that was nothing wrong, but when the numbers of students she was testing on increased alarming, he thought that it might be good to find out what was going on.

Although he did find out what had happened in the end as Harry came to Hermione's rescue and claimed that everything was his idea, Professor Flitwick decided that since no harm came out of their 'mini-contest' he would just send them off with a warning. The trio were told not to do something like that in future unless they sought out his permission in advance.

Even though Hermione did not win that contest in the end, Harry still told Ron and her how they could transfigure the material of something. It was indeed an interesting day for Harry.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_At the staff table…_

Two men smiled, their eyes twinkling with the joy they shared with the students, as they watched Harry, Hermione and Ron spread the laughter around the hall. Even though word had already reached everyone about the Harry versus Snape incident, they were more curious about what had the three of them laughing hilariously.

When those who knew the model student Hermione was had gotten into trouble for doing something as silly as casting Cheering Charms, they started laughing too. It was rare for someone like Hermione to be doing something so ridiculous.

As usual, most of the Slytherins felt themselves above the rest and chose to distance themselves from the laughter all around. Only the few Slytherins who did not believe in pureblood supremacy smiled.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

_Elsewhere, in 12 Grimmauld Place…_

"Damn it Regulus!" screamed a frustrated Sirius. "How the hell am I supposed to know why the _Erodium_ spell works better than _Scourgify_ when used in different context?" He grabbed the ends of his hair, trying to figure out what had made him do that piece of research paper in the first place.

"Relax Sirrie," said Regulus with a smile. "You know why you have to do this."

Upon hearing the nickname his brother had given him, Sirius shot a death glare at him, whose only response was to chuckle heartily. While Regulus had managed to get a job as a bartender in one of the bars in Hogsmeade due to his extraordinary Metamorphmagus ability to change his image at will, Sirius had no such luck. After a few recommendations from Dumbledore, Sirius managed to get a job opportunity _somewhere_, but the people there had wanted to test his abilities first before allowing him to join their ranks. Among their tests was a written component part.

"Do not test my patience, my little brother," Sirius clenched his teeth and growled.

"Haha, you'd do better shutting your mouth now and work on the paper. You have four days left, you know?"

Sirius heaved a sigh and said, "If only I can have your Metamorphmagus talents, then I won't be stuck here doing a bloody assignment for the past few days."

"Both of know how important that job is to you –" Regulus said before being interrupted.

"Yes, yes, I know! I won't want to stay in this house forever…" Sirius said, as frustration gripped him once again.

"Why don't you relax for a few minutes and spend your time writing a letter to Harry?" Regulus suggested with a smile. Anything that involved Harry was able to get Sirius' attention.

As expected, a large grin could soon be seen on Sirius' face.

"That's a great idea!" Sirius said excitedly as he grabbed a parchment and started scribbling away. He would tell Harry some of the cool spells he could use for pranking in Hogwarts, and perhaps the laughing charm he had discovered when he was in his fifth-year. Yes, he could tell him all that and more. Sirius frowned when he remembered that there were some things that he could not tell Harry.

Sirius let out a breath as he thought about the Oath of Secrecy he had taken. Yes, there were just some things that cannot be revealed yet.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

**Author's Note**: School's started… sigh. That will also mean slower updates, but I will still try to update at least 1-2 chapters a week. Any particular scenes you guys interested to see? I'd love to integrate ideas of my readers into the story! Feel free to email me or send me a message if you have any interesting ideas you believe is suitable. On a final note, please review the story:) It will certainly give me more motivation to write. Thanks!

**Next Chapter**: Qudditch! Harry could finally show off his excellent Qudditch skills! Yup, it's that among other interesting stuff. Also, the first reader to guess the job Dumbledore had recommended to Sirius can choose to name the broom Harry would be getting later on! He was riding a Nimbus 2001. Lol, after all, nobody said that the best broom in the wizarding world had to be the Firebolt, right? ;)


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